The End of Fossil Energy and Per Capita Oil by John G Howe (5th Ed)covers updates to the book as well as other related material regarding the imminent global energy crisis.
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Tuesday, 28 June 2016

Top Stories

Big Oil Faces Looming Threat from Climate-Conscious Investors

Bank financing of fossil fuel and mining projects is “undermining” the recently signed Paris climate accord. This is according to “$horting the Climate: Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2016” issued by a quartet of environmental groups: Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Banktrack and Oilchange International. Well, so what else is new? Somebody has to finance those big projects. Who else but financial institutions? Do we want to sound like Captain Renault in “Casablanca” shocked at gambling in Rick’s establishment? Now for the reaction. Those environmental groups have issued this report annually fingering banks that financed fossil fuel projects. As far as we can tell, the banks ignored these reports in the past. They certainly didn’t react that way this time. Several pledged to phase out loans to coal mining in general and to projects that removed mountain tops. One bank said it would no longer lend to new coal mining […]

Nigeria Seeks $40-$50 Billion in Oil Investment as Output Rises

Nigeria Seeks $40-$50 Billion in Oil Investment as Output Rises Country’s crude production as high as 1.9m b/d two days ago Output should rise to 2.2m b/d in July if pipe repairs finish Nigeria is seeking $40 billion to $50 billion in investment in oil projects as the OPEC producer said it raised crude output to as much as 1.9 million barrels a day as of two days ago. The African producer signed a potential deal for $8.5 billion of investment with China North Industries Group Corp., Nigerian State Minister for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said in a Bloomberg television interview in Beijing on Monday. The country’s crude output should rise to 2.2 million barrels a day next month if repairs to a pipeline are completed, he said. “We’re looking to raise about $40 to $50 billion,” Kachikwu said in the Bloomberg interview . “Going to places like […]

Panama opens canal extension, only a dozen heads of state attend

A cargo ship is pictured crossing through the Miraflores locks, a day before the inauguration of the Panama Canal Expansion project, in Panama City, Panama June 25, 2016. Panama opened the long-delayed expansion of its shipping canal on Sunday with just a dozen of the 70 heads of state invited to see the debut of the third set of locks attending the ceremony. Analysts said the rank of those leading the delegations was affected by the Panama Papers scandal, in which millions of documents were leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing how some of the world’s richest people use offshore companies to avoid tax and launder money. Panama’s foreign ministry said the event was a diplomatic success, with representatives from nearly all the invited countries in attendance, including from China, Japan, Peru, South Korea, Colombia and Mexico, as well as executives from top shipping firms and thousands of […]

China aims to cut steel capacity by 45 million tonnes in 2016: state planner

A labourer marks steel bars at a steel and iron factory in Huai’an, Jiangsu province, February 18, 2008. China plans to cut its steel production capacity this year by 45 million tonnes and lower coal output capacity by 280 million tonnes, the head of the country’s top economic planner said on Sunday. The capacity cuts will involve relocating 700,000 workers in the coal sector, and 180,000 workers in the steel industry, Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the World Economic Forum in the northern city of Tianjin. Xu said he was very confident that China will achieve the 2016 targets. “The most urgent task is reducing excess capacity,” Xu said. “I’m very confident that we can achieve the targets.” China has vowed to tackle price-sapping supply gluts in major industrial sectors, and said in February that it would close 100 million-150 million tonnes […]

Post-Brexit dollar surge presents Fed with new conundrum

As Federal Reserve officials anxiously scan the aftershocks of the Brexit vote in the coming days, the reaction of the US dollar in currency markets will be front and centre of their attention. The dollar rose sharply on Friday in response to the UK’s vote to leave the EU, as money flowed into perceived havens. But a further surge would inject a destabilising element into already unsettled markets and add pressure on the Fed to delay any future rate rises. Lewis Alexander, US economist at Nomura, said the dollar would be “the first order of business” for the central bank as it examines the markets, followed by gyrations in credit and equities.

The dollar has been a main driver of Fed policy for the past two years because of the drag that a strong currency has imposed on US exports, inflation and corporate earnings. Nearly half of sales by S&P 500 companies in 2014 were generated overseas, according to UniCredit research. The strong dollar has also injected financial volatility into emerging markets — as seen in January and February this year. It could pose a particular threat to China by rekindling worries about capital outflows and currency devaluation. It is also a potential menace to other emerging markets because of their large stocks of dollar-denominated debts.

Monday, 27 June 2016

Perhaps the most worrisome threat is that because the Arctic is warming so much faster than the globe as a whole, the permafrost — soil that remains frozen year-round — is thawing. As it does, organic matter which is trapped within can decay, and when it does it releases CO2 into the atmosphere, except those places where instead of releasing CO2 it releases CH4.” — Tamino.

With the Northern Hemisphere Pole warming at a rate 2-3 times faster than the rest of the globe, there’s a risk that we start to set off a kind of runaway warming feedback. We may be near that threshold now… God help us if we’ve crossed it…

*****

Prior to 2015, the highest annual rate of atmospheric CO2 increase occurred in 1998 at 2.9 ppm. This record was broken in 2015 when atmospheric CO2 levels climbed by 3.05 ppm. But so far this year, the rate of increase for this heat-trapping gas is a stunning 3.68 parts per million above comparable monthly averages seen during 2015. That’s nearly four times the rate of atmospheric accumulation since the early 1960s. A level of increase that almost guarantees that 2016 will shatter 2015’s record for CO2 gain and set a new ominous benchmark for a ramping accumulation of hothouse gasses.

Some of the highest hea values ever recorded on earth. The delay of India’s monsoon is a pretty big deal. It reduce the amount of moisture necessary for the provision of life-giving crops for this country of 1.2 billion, and it increases life threatening heatwaves.

Australian Parliament must declare a climate emergency. the alarming spike in global temperatures as in the bleaching of the Reef. Insist our leaders stop playing political games and stand together to draw a line in the sand.

Top Stories

Lebanon Gets Seismic As Israel Prepares To Develop Massive Gas Field

Seismic surveys now show that Lebanon’s portion of the prolific Levant Basin is showing promising oil and gas reserves, as the country lags far behind Israel in tapping into this Mediterranean hydrocarbon wealth. After years of delay, Lebanon’s petroleum authority has finally obtained seismic surveys—tasked as far back as 2002—showing that oil reservoirs in the southern region, particularly in Blocks 8 and 9, could have significant potential. Surveys obtained by the petroleum authority have now been submitted to Lebanon’s Speaker, Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian, according to Lebanese media reports . The reports claim to reveal new information proving the presence of oil, most prominently in Block 8. While Lebanon has delayed key legislation that would allow exploration of the Levant Basin to move forward—due largely to a failure to reach a political quorum—Israel’s recent move to authorize the development of […]

Hedge funds added to bullish oil bets just before plunge on Brexit

Hedge funds betting on summer gasoline demand raised their bullish bets on U.S. crude futures this week, just before the market’s crash on Friday on Britain’s shock decision to leave the European Union, trade data showed. Money managers, including hedge funds and other big speculators, boosted their combined net longs in U.S. crude futures and options in both New York and London by 18,000 contracts to 216,003 contracts in the week to June 21, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed. It was the first rise in three weeks in net longs held by the group as U.S. crude’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures began to rise toward the psychological $50 a barrel mark after choppy trades the previous fortnight. But the higher price wagers appeared ill-timed given WTI’s 5 percent plunge on Friday to settle at $47.64 after the unexpected British exit, or Brexit, […]

Oil Glut Is Fading Where You Would Least Expect: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, a country nearly synonymous with plentiful crude supplies, is offering one of the strongest signs yet that the glut that has plagued the oil market since 2014 is coming to an end. Despite near record production, the kingdom’s oil inventories have declined for six consecutive months, the longest stretch since the Joint Organisations Data Initiative started tracking Saudi supply levels nearly 15 years ago. “The drop in Saudi crude stocks signals the rebalancing has started,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consulting firm Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. “Crude stocks are coming off in places where either the data is opaque or the market isn’t paying as much attention.” With oiltraders focusing on supply changes in the U.S. and to a lesser extent in Europe and Japan, the drop in Saudi inventories has gone largely unnoticed. Since October, when Saudi supplies reached a record high, […]

Southern California Time Bomb: The Ground Surrounding The San Andreas Fault Is ‘Rising And Sinking’

If you reside on the west coast, you are living on borrowed time. As you will see below, stress has been building up along the San Andreas fault for more than a century, and scientists tell us that southern California is way overdue for a major earthquake. When that stress is finally released, the U.S. Geological Survey says that we could be looking at hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. If you follow my work regularly, then you already know that there has been unusual shaking all along the “Ring of Fire” so far in 2016. But thankfully the west coast of the United States has been spared from a major disaster up to this point. Unfortunately, scientists assure us that it is only a matter of time before one strikes, and that is why it is so alarming that the ground surrounding the San Andreas fault has […]

Oil Markets Caught By Surprise

Oil Rig And as the world comes to terms with the news that the U.K. has voted to leave the E.U., the oil market is getting a wop bop a loo bop a lop bam walloped. Hark, here are five more energy-specific things to consider today: 1) Energy commodities are getting crushed as a result of the Brexit vote…although one is doing well: U.K. natural gas (aka NBP). Given it is denominated in pounds, and that the pound has been clobbered to its lowest level since 1985 (think: The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, Wham! with ‘careless whisper’ and ‘wake me up before you go-go’), it has suddenly become much cheaper in foreign currency terms. Given the U.K. is connected to the continent by a reversible pipeline, the incentive to suck suddenly-cheaper gas from the U.K. has blown open the arbitrage between the two European entities. Combine this with news […]

Brexit "HUGE VICTORY" For UK Democracy, Liberty and Sovereignty

World Markets Roiled by Brexit as Stocks, Pound Drop; Gold Soars

Global markets buckled as Britain’s vote to leave the European Union drove the pound to the lowest in more than 30 years while sparking demand for haven assets from U.S. Treasuries to gold.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 587 points, or 3.4 percent, erasing gains for 2016 as bank shares plunged. European stocks bore the brunt of the carnage, with the Stoxx 600 Index sliding 7 percent in its worst day since October 2008. The yen briefly strengthened past 100 per dollar for the first time since 2013. Treasury yields had their biggest drop in more than four years and gold rallied above $1,300 an ounce. Volatility surged, with the CBOE’s measure of anxiety jumping 30 percent.

WARNING: Canadian Housing Crash Could Impair BIG Banks' Equity

There are “systemic vulnerabilities” in the Canadian mortgage market that would be exposed if the country were hit by a U.S.-style housing meltdown, according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service.

A crisis on that scale could result in combined losses of more than $17 billion for the Canadian banks and mortgage insurers, with house prices falling by as much as 35 per cent, the ratings agency said in the report, published Monday.

Banks' Stress-Tests Are A Joke - "The Name's Tucker, Not SUCKER"

The 33 Biggest Banks Beat the Fed's Stress-Test Minimums for 2nd Straight Year

For the second straight year, the biggest U.S. banks all had sufficient capital to withstand a severe financial downturn, according to results of the Federal Reserve's annual stress tests.

It was a close call for some, including Morgan Stanley (MS) , BMO Financial (BMO) , Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) and KeyCorp (KEY) . The tests are the first phase of the review and will be followed by scrutiny of how the companies' plans for dividends and stock buybacks would affect their balance sheets.

Beautiful Orcas Starving

The Orcas Are Starving

Vancouver photographer Mark Malleson took this photograph of the Southern Resident killer whale known as J-34, or Doublestuf, breaching while he was in the interior waters of the Salish Sea this spring. It’s a remarkable and frightening photo for orca lovers, because the male orca’s ribs appear to be protruding prominently.

That’s abnormal, especially for a resident killer whale at this time of year, when the orcas are typically well fed after a winter of preying on Chinook salmon. And so Malleson’s photo set off a number of alarm bells in the Northwest whale-watching community as it circulated on social media.

Global Digest Comments "In just a few short decades life on earth has changed dramatically. For in 1961 regimes were building w...

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About the Author - John G Howe

John G. Howe is a retired engineer/farmer. He has been a long-time student of energy problems and is presently lecturing on this subject. Having become so concerned about the world's looming energy crisis, Howe felt compelled to summarize this complex subject into a book in order to reach a broader world audience. His New England Yankee-farmer background combined with his engineering education gives honest appraisals and solutions for a sustainable future.